Larissa K. wrote about unlearning negative associations with math  and relearning positive associations in this post.

This was my response:

Hi Larissa!

I really connected to your story of excelling in math as a child, then feeling like math was too hard in high school.

I find it interesting how the negative reinforcement and negative association from the math classes did not come from the math lessons specifically, but from external sources that were comparisons to other learners and not fitting the prescribed curriculum of your new school (despite excelling in math in a different context) that heavily impacted your learning. I think this demonstrates how much a healthy and supportive learning environment can affect a student’s learning no matter what the actual lesson is. 

Do you think that high schools should make more of an effort to build supportive environments for learners who are struggling with certain subjects? What do you think an essential support might be?

I’m so glad to hear that you were able to relearn a positive association with math! Relearning is a hurdle that I personally find very hard to accomplish but essential to move forwards.

– SC